3 ms·

Is there a protocol for warning people if an out-of-control satellite crash is imminent in a populated area? Who is responsible for covering damages caused by

• sandworm101 9y ago
  When skylab landed on australia they sent a littering bill to Nasa. The general rule is that, if you want your hardware back, you have to pay damages. A sat isn't generally a big deal even over a populated area. It's a lot less damaging than a small plane crash. Those happen every day. Depending on who you talk to, much more natural rock falls to earth every day (asteroids etc) than satellites. A hundred pound rock might make a local newspaper headline but only if someone sees it.
• abhi3 9y ago
  > Who is responsible for covering damages caused by this satellite? Space Law is a developing and mostly uncodified field of International Law, but it is generally considered very uncontroversial that the nation(s)/cosporation(s) responsible for causing the satellite to go out of control should foot the bill for any cleanup/damages. It could be the entity that made a faulty satellite or the entity that failed to launch it to the proper orbit or even an entity that created the debris that caused another satellite to lose orbit.
• tgsovlerkhgsel 9y ago
  The launch country is responsible for it, but you can't sue them directly (only the country you're living in can). https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Space_Liability_Convention https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Space_Liability_Convention